


A Hug Is Worth A Thousand Words

by edgedancer77



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Communication, Contains spoilers for "Are There Healthy Distractions?", Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Moxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:22:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21568342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgedancer77/pseuds/edgedancer77
Summary: Takes place right after (and contains spoilers for) "Are There Healthy Distractions?"Patton can't seem to shake off the things Virgil said to him while they were watching Frozen. Virgil worries that he's ruined his relationship with Patton by acting the way that he did. Can they come together to make things right again?
Comments: 17
Kudos: 80





	A Hug Is Worth A Thousand Words

Patton rose up into his room with a sigh. He normally loved movie nights with his famILY, but this one had left him unsettled. He supposed it wasn’t so surprising that they’d all been sitting so far apart. Logan normally appreciated his own space, and didn’t usually take kindly to being smooshed into the middle of a cuddle pile on the couch. And Roman? Normally he would have been the one initiating the snuggling, but after the last movie night, it was hardly unexpected that he’d been relegated to the beanbag chair. Roman had ranted and raved about the inconsistencies and plot holes in The Little Mermaid with his usual vigour, flailing his arms wildly when he felt he had an especially important point to make. Finally, in a last act of frustration, he’d flung himself backwards across the rest of them on the couch, upsetting the popcorn bowl and nearly making Patton spill his hot chocolate. So this time, he had been placed a safe distance from the rest of them.

Thomas had been preoccupied with his argument with Rico, so it was hardly surprising that when he sat down his whole body had seemed to scream _don’t touch me_. He’d even left his jacket on, as if by taking it off he would have actually been committing to the decision to stay home.

So that had left Virgil. While not the most physically demonstrative, Virgil was usually up for movie cuddles, though he would grumble about it on principle. As Patton had entered the living room, hot chocolate in hand, he’d noticed Virgil sitting halfway between Thomas and the end of the couch. He was perched on the very edge of the cushions, looking anything but relaxed. There hadn’t looked to be room for Patton to squeeze in easily on either side, so he had settled himself on the floor at Virgil’s feet. Smiling up at his dark strange son, Patton had leaned his head against Virgil’s legs, giving his foot an affectionate squeeze. It hadn’t seemed like Virgil could get any more tense, but somehow he’d managed it. Mumbling something that Patton couldn’t quite make out, Virgil had extricated himself from under Patton’s head and scrambled up to the back of the couch, perching there like cat. A very tense cat.

Patton had tried not to feel hurt. His misunderstood shadowling was still Anxiety after all, and anxiety wasn’t always something you could cuddle with. The conversation with Rico had left Virgil unsettled, and he’d probably just needed his space.

Patton shook himself out of his recollections and walked over to his closet, where he tried to decide which onesie to wear to bed. He couldn’t wear his cat onesie for _sleeping_ of course – it was for relaxing in. Besides, in his excitement to get to movie night, he’d thrown his onesie on right over his clothes, and he was getting rather warm. He settled on the Stitch onesie Virgil had gotten him for his birthday. Thinking about Virgil as he got changed, Patton recalled some of the things Virgil had said over the course of the evening.

As the movie had begun, Patton had attempted to lighten the mood in the room.

“Home is where the heart is! How can Thomas feel B-A-D with his inner D-A-D?”

Patton had smiled to himself, congratulating himself on his clever word play.

“I can think of a few ways.”

Patton had started, glancing up at Virgil but quickly looking away. He might have expected a statement like that to come from Logan – the logical side had very little patience for Patton’s jokes. But that statement had come from Virgil! Virgil _never_ spoke to him that way!

Patton had tried to focus back on the movie, and for a while it had worked, despite Roman’s snarky commentary and Remus’ occasional off-colour remarks. Patton had been able to _feel_ Virgil stewing behind him. When the inevitable outburst had finally come, with Virgil _again_ questioning if they’d done the right thing, Patton had tried to settle him down.

“How are you telling me to settle into something right now when you’ve taken your sweet time to settle into things that you were uncomfortable with in the past?”

Ouch. Even as Patton crawled into bed in his fresh onesie, the memory of Virgil’s words still stung. Unable to stop the memory from replaying in his mind, Patton snuggled into his covers as tears pricked at his eyes.

He had pressed on in trying to help Virgil calm down, despite his hurt feelings.

“I just…I just think we should all just try to relax.”

“You do realize who you’re talking to, right?”

Logan had jumped in at that point, saving Patton from having to respond to the bitter statement. Logan had even said Patton was right! Patton had glowed under the praise, his spirits lifting a little. They’d continued to watch the movie, and Patton had started relaxing and enjoying himself again.

Virgil had continued to have outbursts throughout the movie, but somehow one of them always managed to calm him down. Until they couldn’t. Virgil and Thomas had spiraled out of control, Virgil ranting on without seeming to stop for breath.

Logan had saved the day again, taking both Thomas and Virgil through a grounding exercise and talking them through the issue. Patton had felt peace settle over the group as Thomas finally managed to resolve his feelings on the subject. The rest of the movie had passed without incident, and they’d all begun to have fun again.

When Virgil had starting panicking about Thomas possibly missing out on meeting his soulmate, Logan and Roman had smoothly redirected everyone into imagining ways that Frozen could have been better. As Thomas had contentedly typed away on his laptop, the others began to disperse. All save Roman of course, he had wanted to continue to bounce ideas around with Thomas about what to write next. The rest of them had sunk out, though not before Remus had streaked happily across the living room.

Patton once again shook himself out of his memories. He smiled to himself despite the tears still in the corners of his eyes. Remembering how they’d all come together when “rewriting” the end of Frozen warmed his heart. Even Virgil had looked happy. So why did he still feel so unsettled by the things Virgil had said to him? Perhaps it was because in the past, Virgil had always had his back. While Roman and Logan would sometimes belittle his ideas, Virgil never did. Virgil defended him, said his ideas were worth listening to. They had been on the same side when it came to Remus, even though it turned out to have been the _wrong_ side. So to have the other half of their dynamic duo speak to him like that had hurt him deeply.

Preoccupied with his thoughts, tears still leaking from the corners of his eyes, Patton drifted into an uneasy sleep. A short time later, Patton couldn’t tell how long, a soft knock came at his door. Virgil’s quiet voice came from the other side, barely audible.

“Patton? It’s Virgil. Can I come in?”

*****

Virgil stood nervously outside of Patton’s door, trying not to bite his nails. He had retreated to his room soon after Thomas had settled into writing his Frozen fanfiction. As the adrenaline of his near panic attack had subsided, the events of the evening had begun replaying themselves in his mind.

_“I can think of a few ways.”_

Had he really said that? To _Patton_? As he’d recalled the rest of the evening, his anxiety had started growing again. He couldn’t get the hurt look in Patton’s eyes out of his head. He’d decided almost immediately that he needed to go talk his friend, make things right – but, big surprise, he’d been anxious about it. So he’d spent another half hour pacing in his room, imagining all the ways Patton must hate him, how he’d lost his best friend, how he’d be alone again.

Then, another voice from the evening had worked its way into his troubled thoughts.

“Thomas? Virgil? Please do me a favour and name 5 things that you can see.”

Recalling Logan’s calm, measured tone had worked immediately to calm Virgil’s heartrate and slow his frantic pacing. As he had recalled the grounding exercise from earlier that evening, Virgil had repeated it in his room, making a mental note of his Nightmare Before Christmas posters, the hoodie he’d thrown on the bed before changing into his onesie, his spiderweb curtains, his headphones, and the clock on his wall. He had allowed himself to go through the entire exercise again – then, before he let himself think about it too much, he had headed for Patton’s room.

*****

The soft knock came again as Patton blinked sleepily, his mind trying to catch up with what was happening.

“Pat? Are you awake?” There was a short pause, then Patton thought he heard Virgil mumbling quietly, almost to himself, “Or maybe you just don’t want to talk to me. Guess I can’t blame you for that. I’ll just lea—”

As Virgil had been speaking, Patton’s brain had finally caught up with him. He pasted on a smile – even if he was hurting, he didn’t want his kiddo feeling bad – and opened the door, cutting Virgil off mid-word.

“Hiya kiddo! What brings you here at this hour? Having trouble sleeping? Need your Pop to read you a bedtime story?” Patton kept up the cheerful chatter, hoping that Virgil wouldn’t notice the redness of his eyes or the tear tracks that were undoubtedly still on his cheeks. Virgil’s eyes narrowed slightly, then opened wider with mild dismay, and Patton knew he hadn’t fooled his anxious friend.

“Pat, I –“ Virgil was once again cut off as Patton took him by the arm and hauled him into his room, shutting the door behind them.

“What am I thinking, leaving you in the hallway like this? Come in, make yourself at home! I’ll grab a few books, or we could watch a movie, or…” Patton trailed off when he saw that Virgil hadn’t moved since they’d entered the room. The look on his face was a mix of fond amusement, sadness, and…guilt?

“Pat, you know you don’t need to do that, right?”

“Do what ki--Virgil?” Patton remembered at the last moment Virgil’s request to be treated less like a kid, so Patton made an effort to tone down his parental instincts. “I’m just trying to make you feel at home!”

“Y-you’re acting like you’re not upset, but I can see that you are. And…” Virgil paused and took a breath, seeming to try to steady his nerves, “…I know that I’m the reason for that.” He looked away then, not wanting to meet Patton’s eyes. His next words were quiet and hesitant “I-I’m sorry for the way I treated you during the movie. You didn’t deserve that.”

Patton opened his mouth to protest, to assure Virgil that he was fine, but no words came out. As Virgil looked back up at him to gauge his reaction, Patton found his eyes traitorously filling with tears again. He looked down, trying to hide his eyes, trying to think of something to say. When Virgil didn’t speak either, Patton glanced up at him cautiously. Virgil’s eyes were shining with unshed tears as well, and Patton felt the uneasiness and hurt from earlier melt away, leaving only affection for his anxious kiddo behind. (He could still call him kiddo in his head, right?) Virgil continued to look at Patton, then wordlessly held out his arms in invitation.

*****

Virgil stood with his arms open, trying to hold back the tears threatening to spill from his eyes. He didn’t need to wait long before Patton rushed over to him, nearly knocking him over with the force of his embrace. In fact, Patton’s arms wrapped tightly around his waist were probably all that kept him from falling backwards. Virgil cautiously wrapped his arms around Patton’s shoulders, pressing his damp cheek into Patton’s hair. For a time they just stood there, wrapped so tightly it seemed like each was trying to hold the other together. Maybe they were.

All of the things Virgil had been planning to say to Patton, to try and explain or excuse his behaviour, fled from his thoughts as they held each other. They could talk through those issues later, if they still felt they needed to. Patton spoke with hugs, and for now, his tight embrace said everything Virgil needed to hear.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This was my first foray into writing any kind of fanfiction, and it was a lot of fun!


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